The Super League | FA + PL: New Charter & Fines | UEFA: Settlement

[paulchapo]

Surely it's time to put up or shut up for any body that's supposedly still investigating us?

We had the UEFA stench hanging over us for what seemed years and doing no end of damage to our reputation driven by hacks like Delaney. Whatever the final result enough mud was slung for some of it to stick.

It's the same with this premier league fiasco. It's always there in the background allowing the haters in the media to keep on publishing " City still facing sanctions/under investigation by the premier league" stories every few months. Let's have it done once and for all!

 

[Kippax77]

In 2020 City were "fined" for refusing to cooperate with UEFA's investigation into alleged breaches of FFPR. CAS felt that the whole matter could have been settled much more quickly, and without reference to CAS, had the club provided UEFA with the documents requested at the outset. City cooperated fully with CAS and the relevant documents, along with City's accounts, showed there was absolutely no evidence at all of any breaches and proved conclusively that the club had not attempted to disguise owner investment as sponsorship income. These latest judgements mean that City will have to hand over documents to the PL arbitration panel which has the right to "investigate". It is, however, hard to see that there can be any material not considered by the exhaustive CAS proceedings and the judges were clearly irritated by the very slow pace at which the PL investigation was proceeding - this is the significance of his remarks about legitimate interest in the transparency of charges, proceedings and judgements, that the club does not yet even know whether it will face any charges at all and that City have won the title twice in the time the PL has taken NOT to reach a decision. It seems the PL are sitting twiddling their thumbs hoping some new evidence will materialise like a genie out of a bottle of whatever SAF's favourite tipple is.

If you could pick 10 guests past and/or present to have round for a dinner party, you'd be getting an invite pal.
Putting a like to your post doesn't seem enough

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Hi Tolm. Clearly many fans are worried and also angry about the repetition in these attacks. Your chum analogy is great yet can be seen with a slightly different perspective. Apparently, in layman terms sharks can detect 3 drops of blood in a volume of water equivalent to that found in a municipal swimming pool. The Mail need only discover titbits of information which they can then spin to their hearts content over several weeks. Job done and worth the trouble and investment to those who hate us.

Do you have any impression how worried our leaders are about this?

Absolutely none. We clearly treated it seriously enough to pay the top legal people to try and win the appeal.

I suspect it might have more to do with the third part ownership accusations and image right set-up, as that is another area of attack.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

In 2020 City were "fined" for refusing to cooperate with UEFA's investigation into alleged breaches of FFPR. CAS felt that the whole matter could have been settled much more quickly, and without reference to CAS, had the club provided UEFA with the documents requested at the outset. City cooperated fully with CAS and the relevant documents, along with City's accounts, showed there was absolutely no evidence at all of any breaches and proved conclusively that the club had not attempted to disguise owner investment as sponsorship income. These latest judgements mean that City will have to hand over documents to the PL arbitration panel which has the right to "investigate". It is, however, hard to see that there can be any material not considered by the exhaustive CAS proceedings and the judges were clearly irritated by the very slow pace at which the PL investigation was proceeding - this is the significance of his remarks about legitimate interest in the transparency of charges, proceedings and judgements, that the club does not yet even know whether it will face any charges at all and that City have won the title twice in the time the PL has taken NOT to reach a decision. It seems the PL are sitting twiddling their thumbs hoping some new evidence will materialise like a genie out of a bottle of whatever SAF's favourite tipple is.

It looks as if the PL are adopting the same failed strategy as UEFA. They are leaving the investigation "on the table" to placate our commercial rivals, specifically LFC and MUFC. But they have absolutely no evidence and are not actually carrying out any investigation. They are happy for the "stench" to remain around City in the meantime.
When the whole issue goes out of time they can blame City for "not co-operating and say: "We did the best we could." Meanwhile LFC and MUFC can brief the media (as they did last time) saying: "City are guilty really but it was all time-barred."
I think this is what the judge is really driving at with his comments about delays in the probe. In legal terms he is saying to the PL: "Put up or shut up."
PL boss Richard Masters is happy to drag things out because that will please the senior directors at LFC and MUFC (who vetted him for his job). The only question that remains for me is: "Who gave Javier Tebas an off-the-record heads-up on progress in this legal case?" My money is on Masters blabbing to someone at LFC or MUFC who then blabbed to Tebas. It probably happened at one of the Euros junkets.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

If you could pick 10 guests past and/or present to have round for a dinner party, you'd be getting an invite pal.
Putting a like to your post doesn't seem enough

Get a room!

 

[BeerIsTheBest]

Absolutely none. We clearly treated it seriously enough to pay the top legal people to try and win the appeal.

I suspect it might have more to do with the third part ownership accusations and image right set-up, as that is another area of attack.

Tolm. Thanks for the reply. I guess the FAs disinterest and response to the hacking (as recently mentioned) and the punishment meted out to Wayne Rooney’s Derby County and others who have sinned against FFP should provide us with some reassurance that even if skeletons do emerge the punishment is likely to be limited. If they want go down the misrepresentation of accounts or accounting practices i foresee a heap of litigation and a lawyers dream.

i do understand the clubs reluctance to disclose heaps of material. There is bound to be something that is damaging or is even innocent but that could be spun against us.

If the Club are worried about the third party ownership with the Dare to Dream etc and worry (say) about another transfer embargo they should get their skates on and get some players signed.

 

[Citizen Green]

Tolm. Thanks for the reply. I guess the FAs disinterest and response to the hacking (as recently mentioned) and the punishment meted out to Wayne Rooney’s Derby County and others who have sinned against FFP should provide us with some reassurance that even if skeletons do emerge the punishment is likely to be limited. If they want go down the misrepresentation of accounts or accounting practices i foresee a heap of litigation and a lawyers dream.

i do understand the clubs reluctance to disclose heaps of material. There is bound to be something that is damaging or is even innocent but that could be spun against us.

If the Club are worried about the third party ownership with the Dare to Dream etc and worry (say) about another transfer embargo they should get their skates on and get some players signed.

This investigation is linked to the Der Spiegel accusations from late 2018 that UEFA also investigated us for.

 

[Cobwebcat]

Absolutely none. We clearly treated it seriously enough to pay the top legal people to try and win the appeal.

I suspect it might have more to do with the third part ownership accusations and image right set-up, as that is another area of attack.

Its probably FFP I think as the investigation started the day after the UEFA one but it’s not impossible it’s something else.

I hope you are right and it’s not FFP as any punishment wouldn’t be as bad I think.

 

[citizen_maine]

i do understand the clubs reluctance to disclose heaps of material. There is bound to be something that is damaging or is even innocent but that could be spun against us.

I think it's also because there will be confidential legitimate business stuff in there that we don't want our rivals to have sight of

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Tolm. Thanks for the reply. I guess the FAs disinterest and response to the hacking (as recently mentioned) and the punishment meted out to Wayne Rooney’s Derby County and others who have sinned against FFP should provide us with some reassurance that even if skeletons do emerge the punishment is likely to be limited. If they want go down the misrepresentation of accounts or accounting practices i foresee a heap of litigation and a lawyers dream.

i do understand the clubs reluctance to disclose heaps of material. There is bound to be something that is damaging or is even innocent but that could be spun against us.

If the Club are worried about the third party ownership with the Dare to Dream etc and worry (say) about another transfer embargo they should get their skates on and get some players signed.

Agree with you about disclosing material. UEFA had no credible evidence of wrongdoing and neither do the PL. Why should we allow them to conduct a fishing expedition with our confidential business information? They have done nothing previously that suggests we should trust them. UEFA leaked like a sieve throughout their process and someone is already apparently briefing Javier Tebas on this probe (he is hardly a friend of the PL either)
There will be plenty of content in our documents that we don't want in the public domain. It doesn't make it illegal. The most damaging things in the Der Spiegel stuff was not much the financial stuff but the boasting: "We can do what we want" and the tasteless jokes about dead UEFA officials etc etc.